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Field service management software is transforming trade/ speciality contracting as more revenue comes from service contracts and maintenance...

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, has released a primary research study revealing that legacy software solutions used by speciality and trade contractors could prevent them from profitably delivering aftermarket services to their customers.

These contractors are finding aftermarket service an important source of revenue growth as project owners wish to outsource asset maintenance to the companies that constructed, fabricated or installed the asset on their behalf.

The survey of 200 HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), plumbing, electrical, building automation, low voltage electrical, signage, overhead door and other speciality contractors paints a picture of an industry in the grips of a digital transformation.

85 percent of study respondents said they have maintenance contracts with customer-specific terms, service level agreements (SLAs) and pricing, but only 14 percent said their software facilitated these contracts “very well.”

85 percent of study respondents said they have maintenance contracts with customer-specific terms, service level agreements (SLAs) and pricing, but only 14 percent said their software facilitated these contracts “very well.”Many respondent companies did not enable field technicians to improve the customer experience or drive new revenue. Only 38 percent said technicians could access information on the terms of the contract including customer-specific requirements. Only 15 percent of respondents have the technology to empower field technicians to upsell or sell new service contracts, only 25 percent could issue new estimates and 23 percent could get customer approval for an estimate.

89 percent of respondents said they use subcontractors, but just over 10 percent have adopted the current technology by giving their subcontractors a mobile app to interact with their field service management software.

Respondents reporting greater readiness for digital transformation—Digital Transformation Leaders—are nine times as likely to say their software prepares them well for the essential process of service contract administration. Only 30 percent of Digital Transformation Laggards were even offering customer-specific contracts, while Digital Transformation Leaders were more than nine times as likely to say their software prepared them very well to support these contractual obligations with specific requirements for each customer.

Our data shows that residential contractors seem to be ahead of commercial contractors when it comes to Digital Transformation.IFS Industry Director for Field Service Management Mark Brewer said, “These trade and speciality contractors are at an inflexion point with field service management software. Many of them have invested in some level of field service technology to support aftermarket service work. Often, this same software helps them manage construction crews during the initial project. But now they are at that point where they need to become more attentive to customer-specific SLAs. They need to upsell and drive more sales from each customer and improve the customer experience.”

IFS Senior Product Evangelist for Field Service Management Tom DeVroy added, “The adage is that the future is here—it is just not evenly distributed. This is true for trade contracting, where our data shows that residential contractors seem to be ahead of commercial contractors when it comes to Digital Transformation.

This is mostly the result of customer demands that have pushed them towards software that optimizes the field service schedule, enabling them to give an accurate estimated time of arrival and issue proactive customer alerting. They are further ahead on automated subcontractor management, automated parts ordering and fulfilment, and field-based, point-of-service payment processing. Contractors engaged strictly in commercial work need to catch up as their own customer expectations evolve.”

Download the entire study, Are Trade/Specialty Contractors Leveraging Field Service Software for Aftermarket Service? @ fs-ne.ws/MNNo30inF0F

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Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director for Service Management, IFS explores how service organisations can leverage digital transformation to improve customer service and exceed expectations...

Servitization. Uberization. Driverless cars. Drones. Digital transformation appears to be both a blessing and curse to the field service industry. The downside to digital revolution? Customer expectation rises as new technology makes a consumer’s life easier. But fundamentally, a service organisation strives to deliver the right products and services at the right time. The upside? Digital transformation can enable this endeavour.

CIO defines digital transformation as “the application of digital capabilities to processes, products, and assets to improve efficiency, enhance customer value, manage risk, and uncover new monetisation opportunities.” New technologies help field service organisations achieve their goals by enabling them to acquire and process the right data, deliver services and products more accurately and efficiently and provide an unrivalled customer experience.

According to a research study by The Raconteur, even in digitally rich 2017, 28% of field service operations (FSOs) are failing to attain at least 80% service level agreement (SLA) compliance, with 66% of these organisations also citing concern or serious concern over their current cost model. The challenge becomes this: how do organisations leverage digital transformation to exceed customer expectation and achieve long-term sustainability?

Customer-Driven Digital Transformation

The customer is the focal point of any field service operation. Traditional statistics state that by the year 2020 customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator (Walker) and by 2018, more than 50% of organisations will redirect their investments to customer experience innovations (Gartner). Making the customer the centre of your organisation’s digital transformation ensures that all changes will directly support your central goal of putting the customer first.

Technology can transform the customer experience in a multitude of ways including:

More accurate demand forecasting

Predicted demand, provided by the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data technology, allows an organisation to collect real-time data and utilise advanced forecasting algorithms to predict the optimal window for predictive maintenance or service visits, rather than relying on historical information or regression modelling.

Faster service times

IoT technology that is seamlessly integrated with intelligent field service management (FSM) software dispatches field service engineers automatically and predictively when an asset requires service, improving the customer experience and saving costs on time spent on wasted visits.

Seamless workflows

Real-time operational intelligence gives managers insight into all aspects of their service operations while end-to-end FSM automates the entire service supply chain. This eliminates paper processes and reduces the time from initiation to invoice, transforming service delivery from reactive to proactive. These technologies allow organisations to reduce operating costs and focus more on the overall customer experience.

At The Collision Point

So, your customer is one of the future; digitally savvy and increasingly demanding because of it. Digital transformation exasperates and solves this challenge at the same time. How can you use this to your advantage? Focus on growth and innovation.

According to new research, 47% of FSOs reported that growth opportunities in new markets were a driving factor for digital transformation, while 33% of organisations cited evolving customer needs and preferences as a top driving factor (Raconteur).

Facilitate Growth

Your organisation needs to grow internally and externally. Digital transformation can facilitate this by allowing you to offer new service models, appeal to new customer bases and enter new markets. But in order for this to be effective, you need to ensure that you have the right organisational and governance model to facilitate growth and embrace change. Internal buy-in and change management are imperative to leveraging digital transformation to ensure growth.

Leverage Innovation

Innovation gives your organisation an incredible competitive edge by providing services or products that are entirely different from the competition. Digital transformation doesn’t just fix current problems with logistics, customer service, delivery and more, it also presents alternative ways of doing business to better serve the customer.

Service organisations surveyed in Raconteur’s research were overwhelmingly convinced in the importance of investing in big data, analytics and IoT. These technologies are already working to help leverage innovations in service delivery, closing the loop between the customer and operations.

Now What?

Embracing digital technology requires a deep understanding of your organisational needs and your customers’ expectations.

Clear direction, internal buy-in and change management processes will help ensure your technological investments reap the most ROI and provide the best improvements for your organisation. Moreover, working with third-party vendors that understand your business and imperatives is key to success.

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Paul White, Director, Customer Engagement Solutions, IFS explains that even with all the data in the world - the most important step to improving the customer experience is understanding what the customer wants...

Look around you.

Today’s marketplace is entirely driven by the customer. Uber, Amazon, Deliveroo and others have all found enormous success developing businesses based on delivering beyond customer expectation.

This paramount shift in business practice, once a simple supply and demand problem, has made the concept of customer service increasingly complex. The customer landscape has steadily evolved over the past sixty years since the rise of modern call centers but it has only been recently, since the rapid surge of consumer technology, that customer expectation has been so hard to measure, and meet.

A 2016 research report done by Forrester states that 72% of businesses say that improving the customer experience is their top priority. It is an obvious imperative for businesses that want to stay relevant, competitive and not end up a laggard.

But the first step to improving the customer experience is understanding what the customer wants. Even with all the data in the world out there today (cookies, surveys, inbound marketing), it isn’t that easy. Providing the customer with an unrivaled experience should infiltrate every part of your business. So what does your customer in 2017 what?

 

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Want to know more? IFS have published an excellent white paper based on their Digital Change Survey which is available to Field Service News subscribers...

If you are a field service professional you can apply for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription and we will send you a copy of this white paper along instantly.

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Real-time interaction

A Salesforce report on the connected customer states that 65% of consumers expect companies to interact with them in real-time. Instant gratification is widely available and with companies competing primarily on customer service alone, response time is an increasingly important differentiator.

An unrivalled experience

According to a Walker study, by the year 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Additionally, 86% of customers state they will spend more to get a better customer experience. This means a shifted focus from meeting customer demand to focusing on customer SUCCESS.

Fundamentally the ideals of servitization come into play here where you no longer sell a product or service, but rather the outcome of that product or service.

Mind reading

Ok, maybe not to that extreme. But consumers today want the businesses they interact with to know what they need. This can mean anything from proactive service (which removes the hassle of the customer having to escalate a problem) to intelligent upselling.

So you need a business that caters to the customer and provides them with an unparalleled experience. The connected customer drives the escalator of customer satisfaction and now demands input and acknowledgement throughout your sales and service lifecycle. This means you need processes and systems that support the customer as the bottom line.

What does that mean for the field service management systems that drive your service business and automate your operations?

For IFS it meant recognising the customer imperative service businesses cannot ignore. It meant understanding that empowering the service business to deliver a unique customer experience means delighting the connected customer. It meant recognising that the customer is the focal point of any service transaction.

So IFS made an acquisition that would enable them to provide the only complete connected field service management solution focused directly on customer interaction, from beginning to end.

mplsystems provides the omni-channel contact center and customer engagement support service businesses need to provide the optimum customer experience In fact, Aberdeen Group claims that companies with the strongest omni-channel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers.

What does the future of field service management look like?

As digital transformation and customer expectation collide, we can expect a world that manifests immediate personalised touch points. AI will help service businesses understand the customer journey today, while preparing for tomorrow. IoT is already driving the shift from reactive service models to predictive ones.

Servitization is delivering on customers’ new expectation that their success be taken into consideration, by providing outcome based service offerings.

The most forward thinking businesses will be able to leverage new technologies and existing systems to create a customer experience and offering that is rich, insightful, and innovative.

It starts with the customer and its ends with them, and field service management processes and service businesses alike must embrace this.

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  IFS
Title: The IFS Digital Change Survey

 

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Want to know more? Access to this resource is available to Field Service News subscribers only - but if you are a Field Service Professional you may qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription!

If you are a field service professional you can apply for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription and we will send you a copy of this white paper along instantly.

(Please note that by applying for your subscription via this link you accept the terms and conditions here and a plain english version is available from our main subscriptions page here) 

 

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Synopsis:

When a car leaves a factory, this no longer signifies the end of the relationship between manufacturer and vehicle. The car goes into the next stage of its lifecycle, where it must be maintained and serviced. Businesses are realising that this servicing offers a significant revenue stream. For example, automotive manufacturer margins on new vehicle sales range from eight to 14 per cent, whereas servicing a brake disc carries around a 65 per cent margin.

As businesses become service-oriented, digital transformation gives them the tools to change.

By enabling visibility of an asset using the Internet of Things (IoT), the provider can better understand its use in the real world and feed that back into its research and development (R&D) process. Any issues from the manufacturing process that affect usage and failure rates of equipment can be managed via the IoT feedback loop. Data analysis using business intelligence or big data and analytical tools can derive value from that data.

Historically, companies have seen service as a cost centre and a necessary evil. Now, Digital Transformation is enabling more organisations to realise the potential that service has as a profit centre. Yet there is considerable variation in maturity across the sector globally. This exclusive white paper by IFS offers key insights into their research of Digital Transformation and how it is being implemented.

Overview:

Service: Leading the Way

Across many industries, manufacturing and products have become commoditised; service is now the differentiator. The winners in the service sector are those able to stand apart through their ability to support a product across its lifecycle, or support a client whose services they manage.

When set against other sectors, service organisations are leading the field in innovation and transformation. It is the only sector in which respondents did not select ‘internal process efficiencies’ as being the key driver for digital transformation. The positive customer experience they offer is expected to allow them to increase margins and increase their customer base. Digital Transformation sits fully behind that growth, as it enables companies to innovate their offering, automate workload and build a picture of a customer’s world based on the data they receive.

 

The top five factors behind digital transformation reflect this potential, with four of the five being sales, innovation and customer relationship-driven. Chief among these is ‘growth opportunities in new markets’. In reality, these growth opportunities are not new but have been expanding for some 20+ years. What is changing is recognition of these opportunities. Many organisations have been slow to recognise service as being a key driver to their overall business success.

A  New Hope:

The service industry is reaching a critical point with its ageing workforce. An enormous level of knowledge, possessed by the veterans and gurus of the industry, is walking out of the door as these workers reach retirement, or are no longer effectively supported by the business. This can have more of an impact in service than anywhere else, as the level and quality of service on offer can be directly impacted by the individual that performs the service.

In developing and recruiting talent, DT has a significant role to play. Intelligent knowledge management systems can enable a six-month recruit to perform those maintenance or repair services that would have previously been the [quote float="right"]Where firms operate a service within a service, such as an elevator in a hotel, it is in the interest of both the hotel operator and the elevator service organisation to create the optimum customer experience, because they share the same end consumer

domain of a 10+ year veteran. Technologies such as augmented reality (in the form of Google Glass or Microsoft HoloLens), can be usedto virtually project onto the physical equipment an animated disassembly procedure for swapping out a part onto the physical equipment.

 

The greatest talent gaps reported by service providers are in the areas of business intelligence (BI) and cybersecurity, with the former particularly keenly felt in North America.

Big data/analytics and BI are crucial in supporting a quantifiable business, and unlike many other industries, service is very easy to measure. Metrics such as first-time fix rate, mean time to repair, mean time between services, and service level agreements are commonplace. It is crucial when marketing a service that the provider is able to cite a percentage level of service and agree that level with customers in their SLA.

Joining Forces:

The need for collaboration is higher in the services sector than in any other, based on the IFS cross-industry research. At a sector-wide level, the delta between desired levels of collaboration and actual levels of collaboration is 2.7 points on a ten-point scale, meaning there is a desire to increase levels of collaboration by 49 per cent.

 

Where firms operate a service within a service, such as an elevator in a hotel, it is in the interest of both the hotel operator and the elevator service organisation to create the optimum customer experience, because they share the same end consumer

 

The demand for close collaboration is not surprising – firms such as Dell have a fully outsourced service provision for their field technicians, which means a considerable source of potential revenue is in the hands of trusted third parties.

 

Where firms operate a service within a service, such as an elevator in a hotel, it is in the interest of both the hotel operator and the elevator service organisation to create the optimum customer experience, because they share the same end consumer, who is jointly judging the product and judging the service.

Given the delta, many firms are clearly still not optimised in their digital transformation and will need to achieve a stronger bond between their partners and their internal teams to realise the full value of servitization.

 

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Want to know more? Access to this resource is available to Field Service News subscribers only - but if you are a Field Service Professional you may qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription!

If you are a field service professional you can apply for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription and we will send you a copy of this white paper along instantly.

(Please note that by applying for your subscription via this link you accept the terms and conditions here and a plain english version is available from our main subscriptions page here) 

 

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Noventum has released its FSM Solutions Reality Check report, a comprehensive overview of the leading Field Service Management (FSM) solutions to help organisations select the solutions best suited to their requirements.

According to research and evaluations conducted by Noventum, Field Service Management solutions provided by ServiceMax, Microsoft and IFS are best positioned to provide maximum business benefits to service businesses while the potential risks and TCO are the lowest.

Noventum evaluated vendors and their products by assessing their functional and non-functional capabilities against the industry leading Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards to determine whether the solutions can support the key businesses capabilities service businesses need to be successful.

Service organisations that are planning to select a new FSM solution can benefit from the knowledge and data collected to select the best FSM solution for their specific needs and for their specific situation. By using Noventum’s evaluation framework based on SCP this can be done in a much shorter timeframe and with a better and completer set of service requirements and evaluation criteria than is typically the case, ensuring that the selected solution can support all service processes in scope.

 

Through our extensive customer engagements, via product demos and customer references visits, Noventum validated the capabilities of service management solutions to ensure that they meet client’s needs in real world situations.

Visit Noventum’s website to request a copy of the report (http://noventum.eu/whitepaper/fsm-solutions-reality-check).

Join Noventum at Field Service Europe on 6-8 December 2017, with over 55 heads of service speakers.

You can register today http://fs-ne.ws/nCix30gid3o for Field Service, including the including the Service Industry Standards Day with a 20% discount (Service providers only) when you indicate the registration FSEU17FSN

 

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IFS is now uniquely positioned to offer world leading service management software solutions to the full spectrum of service businesses, independent of size, level of operational complexity, vertical focus or geographical location.

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, has recently announces it has signed an agreement to purchase WorkWave LLC. WorkWave is a leading provider of highly scalable, cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for the Field Service and Last Mile Delivery and Logistics industries. WorkWave primarily serves small & medium sized (SMB) service businesses, with specific vertical focus on Pest Control, Lawn & Landscape, Cleaning & Janitorial, Heating/Ventilation/AC, Plumbing & Electrical and Transportation.

WorkWave’s SaaS solutions seamlessly integrate the office to the field, enabling SMB service businesses to streamline back office tasks such as scheduling, planning and billing, increase field visibility and productivity, and automate marketing and sales activities. As a result, WorkWave’s clients are able to significantly improve efficiency, reduce cost, boost revenues and enhance customer satisfaction.

From its headquarters in Holmdel, New Jersey, WorkWave’s 260 employees support more than 7,300 customers who are primarily based in the U.S. Thanks to its deep industry expertise, cutting-edge technology and focus on customer service, WorkWave is proud to be recognised with multiple awards for its outstanding growth and culture, including the Inc. 5000 and Best Places to Work, among others.

 

Commenting on the acquisitions, Fredrik vom Hofe, Group Senior Vice President for Business Development at IFS said “This acquisition is further evidence of how IFS is investing to extend its global leadership in Service Management. WorkWave, with its very strong SaaS offering and deep knowledge of how to serve SMB service businesses, complements IFS’s already leading service management offering that is used by many larger service-centric companies. We can now offer the most complete, connected Service Management solutions across the full-spectrum of service organisations and service-intensive industries, globally! In addition, we have significantly strengthened our presence in North America, the world’s largest software market, meaning that the Americas is now the largest region in the IFS Group.” He continued: “We are very pleased to have WorkWave’s CEO, Chris Sullens, and the talented WorkWave team join IFS to continue our growth in Service Management.”

Chris Sullens, CEO of WorkWave, stated “We are very excited to join the IFS team and looking forward to mutually accelerating our growth in the field service and logistics industries - and beyond. This is a great opportunity for our clients, partners, and employees.” He added, “We now have the opportunity to leverage the resources of a leading service management software organization, while continuing to invest in and deliver exceptional products and services to our core clients in pest control and other field service verticals. Our combination of offerings will help service businesses of all sizes solve their operational and growth challenges through our market-leading software solutions.”

 The acquisition is expected to close in Q4 2017. The financial terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

 

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IFS, the global enterprise applications company, has released a primary research study on how the Internet of Things (IoT) affects readiness for digital transformation in industrial companies.

According to survey of 200 IoT decision makers at industrial companies in North America, only 16 percent of respondents consume IoT data in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. That means 84 percent of industrial companies face a disconnect between data from connected devices and strategic decision making and operations, limiting the digital transformation potential of IoT.

The study posed questions about companies’ degree of IoT sophistication. The study also explores how well their enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) or field service management (FSM) software prepares them for digital transformation and to consume IoT data within enterprise software.

Respondents were divided into groups including IoT Leaders and IoT Laggards, depending on how well their enterprise software prepared them to consume IoT data—as well as Digital Transformation Leaders and Digital Transformation Laggards depending on how well their enterprise software prepared them for digital transformation.

[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• The two Leaders groups overlapped, with 88 percent of Digital Transformation Leaders also qualifying as IoT Leaders, suggesting IoT is a technology that underpins the loose concept of digital transformation.
• Digital Transformation Leaders made more complete use of IoT data than Digital Transformation Laggards; Leaders are almost three times as likely to use IoT data for corporate business intelligence or to monitor performance against service level agreements.
• Digital Transformation Leaders were more likely than Digital Transformation Laggards to be able to access IoT data in applications used beyond the plant floor. They were more than four times as lilkely to have access to IoT data in enterprise asset management software, twice as likely than Digital Transformation Laggards to be able to access IoT data in high-value asset performance management software, and almost twice as likely to be able to be able to use IoT data in ERP.
• The data suggests a real need for more IoT-enabled enterprise applications designed to put data from networks of connected devices into the context of the business.[/unordered_list]

In reviewing the findings, IFS Chief Technology Officer for North America, Rick Veague, commented, “Are your planning and maintenance systems robust enough to make real time decisions using IoT-sourced data? Many are facing the reality of having to answer ‘no.’ We have seen examples of companies coming to us because their incumbent software is not able to administer and use IoT data to achieve the gains they want to realize.”

Steve Andrew, IFS Vice President of Marketing for North America added, “Long before the term IoT was coined, IFS was committed to introducing machine data into enterprise applications. With the release of the IFS IoT Business Connector, we are in a better position than ever to help our customers operationalise their IoT data. These study data shows this technology is required to connect IoT with strategic data from around their organisation. This in turn lets businesses use IoT not just for cost avoidance strategies like condition-based maintenance, but to add new or enhanced product or service lines, increase enterprise agility and realise the growth and revenue benefits of digital transformation.”

 

“Study data suggest that the most common use case for IoT in these industrial settings is condition-based maintenance. The benefits go beyond operational improvements and maintenance cost avoidance,” said Ralph Rio, Vice President of Enterprise Software at ARC Advisory Group. “It increases uptime that provides additional capacity for increased revenue. It also avoids unplanned downtime that interrupts production schedules causing missed shipment dates and customer satisfaction issues. When married to demand and scheduling systems in ERP, IoT becomes a revenue-enhancement tool improving the top line.”

Download the Industrial IoT and Digital Transformation Study. 

 

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Today’s technology is becoming more and more like science fiction - but how can we harness it in the field service sector? Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director, IFS gives us the inside scoop on how they are leveraging HoloLens...

It’s stuff straight out of the movies; Back to the Future, Ender’s Game, or Ex Machina. Imagine a young field service technician in front of an MRI machine at an NHS hospital.

He has arrived to perform preventative maintenance on the machine based on sensor feedback that had signalled a pending fault.

He is wearing Microsoft’s HoloLens, which in addition to giving him the appearance of Geordi La Forge straight of Star Trek, is allowing him to be immersed in the customer experience.

He can access customer history, warranty agreements, sensor data and even schematics, all hands free, in real-time, while he repairs the machine, maximising uptime and all the while avoiding the hassle and stress that inevitably comes with breakdown.

Only that isn’t a movie scene.

In fact, I stood in a room wearing a HoloLens as it fed me information straight from IFS Applications, our ERP backed service management software.

I was able to access and view service history, performance analysis, and temperature levels. In fact, the integration between IFS Applications and the HoloLens will also make it possible to action the data in real time by clicking a ‘work guidelines’ button to access service instructions stored in IFS Applications.

By leveraging the integrated HoloLens camera, the solution also makes it easy to document the asset and the service performed and store the information in IFS Applications for future reference.

Proof of concept today, in the field tomorrow. 

IFS’s innovation think tank, IFS Labs, has developed an integration between the enterprise applications suite IFS Applications and Microsoft HoloLens to reinvent field service management.

“We are very excited to present this proof of concept that we believe has the potential to revolutionise the way we think of field service management,” IFS Labs director Bas de Vos said. “By leveraging the Microsoft HoloLens, we can help service personnel navigate complex environments and access critical asset information to realise major benefits such as increased productivity and first-time fix rates."

 

Field service management is a highly prioritised area for IFS where we have been categorised as leaders by analysts. We will keep pioneering this field with innovative solutions that provide tangible business benefits.”

 

What does it mean?

It means improved service levels, increased first-time fix rates, and increased uptime. It means truly transformative field service delivery.

A servitization model transforms the concept, expectation and value of service, and technology enhances execution of that product service system.

Technology like the HoloLens allows technicians to do their jobs better, faster. It also helps to bridge gaps caused by an ageing workforce, providing appeal to a younger generation of employees while offering an easy to adopt user experience for your current labour force.

According to Tuong Huy Nguyen of Gartner, “AR is most useful as a tool in industries where workers are either in the field, do not have immediate access to information, or jobs that require one or both hands and the operator’s attention.”

Changing your offering…

It also breeds new opportunity for your service delivery model.

Today, fast service isn’t enough for many of your customers. According to Fast Company, 70 percent of consumers expect a self-service option for handling commercial questions and complaints. Not only can an integrated HoloLens offering provide a highly empowered field service engineer, but it can also turn your customer into a field service engineer as well.

 

Imagine providing your customer with a HoloLens linked to your service management solution when they purchase a product or service package from you.

You are then empowering your customers to act as the first line of defence in the case of failure, regular maintenance, and more, by providing them with the right guidance and virtual support to fix an issue themselves.

Innovative software helps you deliver inspired service

The power of technology ultimately lies in how it is leveraged. Combining the mixed reality capabilities of Microsoft HoloLens with the enterprise end-to-end software solution IFS Applications ultimately empowers field service technicians with innovative tools that boost productivity while creating the potential for organisations to generate new offerings and add value to their customers.

The world we grew up dreaming about in the movies is a world that we are now able to embrace. As end consumers taste the potential of new technology and expect more, field service organisations that embody innovation and leverage new technologies will become the clear leaders.

To learn more about IFS Lab’s latest innovations, email bas.de.vos@ifsworld.com or visit www.ifsworld.com

 

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Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director for Service Management at IFS about the shifting changes within the field service management sector...

 

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